CNN has announced Laura Coates has been promoted to the network’s Chief Legal Analyst.
Coates will continue to fill in as an anchor throughout CNN programming in addition to her new role as Chief Legal Analyst.
Jeffrey Toobin, the last Chief Legal Analyst for CNN, departed the network last year. His exit came two years after he was suspended for inadvertently exposing himself to WNYC and The New Yorker colleagues on a Zoom call during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was previously in line to anchor the network’s 11:00 PM ET news hour, but CNN ultimately decided to expand Alisyn Camerota’s show to a two-hour program. In response, CNN employees raised concerns with management over the lack of diversity in the network’s lineup.
“The concern is that it’s all white people who don’t have experience anchoring — while surrounding them with [contributors who are] African American and people of color is a sleight of hand,” a CNN employee said at the time. “To have someone made anchor after five to six months’ experience is insulting to journalists of color who have been there for a long time and have established themselves as credible journalists.”
In addition to her work with CNN, she is also the host of The Laura Coates Show on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124. She recently moved to mornings on the station after flipping timeslots with Julie Mason.
